Contents

Of course, Mac fans are probably shaking their heads in disbelief at what Windows users put up with, in cost and complexity, to get backup imaging. Mac devotees still running OS X 10.4 Tiger must turn to third-party imaging software, just like their Windows-using colleagues, but they will find it a lot simpler. The two programs I use are the freeware Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! ($27.95, direct). Both support automatic scheduled backups, are blissfully worry-free, and have restored my Mac to perfect condition.

If you use OS X 10.5 (Leopard), you've already got drive-backup software. Just plug in a USB or FireWire external drive and the OS will offer to start backing up all your files automatically with the built-in Time Machine, a feature that keeps hourly backups of your work on the current day and retains a single daily backup for each previous day. Time Machine lets you grab any file or version of a file from the past and restore it. If your hard drive fails, you can simply boot from the OS X DVD that came with your system, fire up Time Machine, and restore your whole system. Maybe someday Windows will catch up with this kind of convenience, but don't bet on it.

Microsoft includes an image backup feature in Vista, but not one that you'll want to use in a real-world system. In Vista Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise (but not in other versions), use the Start Menu, go to All Programs, then System and Maintenance, then the Backup and Restore Center, where you'll find an option to back up your entire computer. This option creates an image backup either on a hard disk or DVDs. You can restore the image by booting from the Vista installation DVD to the Vista Recovery Environment. Unfortunately, unlike Time Machine or commercial imaging products, Vista only makes complete image backups, not automatically-scheduled incremental backups, and can only restore a system from an image stored on a local hard disk or DVDs, not from your network. Also, you can't browse through a backed-up image to extract individual files. This is where Vista gives you a few crumbs, while OS X gives you the whole cake.

I've used many of these programs on my home-office system, and they've rescued it when badly written software slowed or damaged it. Rebooting to an emergency CD, navigating to a backed-up image, and restoring my system to exactly the same condition it was in when I made my backup took just minutes. You may not go to the lengths I do to back up documents, but think about how you'd feel if you lost your photos, music, documents, and other files. And remember how much work it took to get your system to work the way you wanted. If your backup strategy doesn't use imaging software, don't wait until the sun goes down to start.

Below are links to our reviews of five of the leading drive-imaging products. As always, click the links to read the full reviews.

Acronis True Image 11 Home
This program's ability not just to perform drive imaging but also to back up and restore specific folders and settings makes it the most flexible backup utility I know. But users with complex systems should watch out for potential problems with the emergency restore CD.

Norton Ghost 12.0
This is flexible, powerful drive-imaging and file-backup software with an exceptionally clear interface and lots of scheduling options, but a networking problem with its emergency CD keeps it from being an Editors' Choice.

ShadowProtect Desktop 3.1
This software provides the fastest and smoothest backups and restores of any drive-image utility on the market, and a Vista-based emergency disk guarantees compatibility with the widest range of backup hardware. ShadowProtect Desktop 3.1 is the best such product and worth ten times its price in terms of peace of mind and flexibility.

Automatic Renewal Program: Your subscription will continue without interruption for as long as you wish, unless
you instruct us otherwise. Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of the term unless you authorize
cancellation. Each year, you'll receive a notice and you authorize that your credit/debit card will be charged the
annual subscription rate(s). You may cancel at any time during your subscription and receive a full refund on all
unsent issues. If your credit/debit card or other billing method can not be charged, we will bill you directly instead. Contact Customer Service